Panthers, Lady Panthers Advance to Holiday Tourney Finals

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Senior post player Darius Latham scored a game-high 26 points to go along with 8 rebounds and 4 assists leading North Central to a 78-71 win over the Fishers Tigers in the 1st round of the 15th Annual North Central Holiday Tournament. 

Latham, who scored 11 first quarter points, helped the Panthers stay close in the first half as Fishers came out of the gate with an 11-2 run.  KJ LaShore also played a key role in the opening half, coming off the bench to nail 3 of 4 from beyond the 3-point arc to help NC close the margin midway through the 2nd quarter.  

Perry Pointdexter had a couple of dynamite dunks in his 11 point, 6 rebound effort.  Colin Bridgeforth, who slowed down the Tiger's best player Jaylon Brown in the 2nd half, scored 11 points on 5 of 7 shooting from the floor.

The Panthers outscored the Tigers 26-13 in the fourth quarter after trailing by 6 points at the end of three stanzas.

The win is North Central's 5th in 8 starts.  They will play in the Holiday Tournament final Saturday afternoon at 4pm.

On the girl's side of the tournament bracket, North Central also advanced to tomorrow's final with a 46-33 victory over New Albany in the opening round.  Strong pressure defense and balanced scoring helped the Lady Panthers.  Senior standout Celeste Edwards and Penny Ingram each scored a team-high 10 points and Kyra Taylor had a 9-point game.

New Albany struggled all afternoon with the NC full court pressure giving up 25 turnovers which led to the Lady Panthers getting 19 more shots from the field.

North Central now stands at 4 wins, 5 losses on the season.  They will face defending tournament champion Springboro (OH) tomorrow at 2 o'clock in the championship game.  North Central hopes to hoist it's first NC Holiday Tournament trophy since 2006.